This application claims the benefit of Korean Application No. 00-6536, filed Feb. 11, 2000, in the Korean Patent Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma display panel, and more particularly, to a plasma display panel in which a black matrix pattern formed on a front substrate is improved.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical plasma display panel is widely noted for its display performance in a display capacity, brightness, contrast and a viewing angle, as a superior flat panel display device having performance close to a cathode ray tube. The plasma display panel can be classified into either a direct current plasma panel or an alternating current plasma panel according to the operational principles thereof. Also, the plasma display panel can be classified into either a facing discharge type plasma display panel or a surface discharge type plasma display panel.
FIG. 1 shows an example of a conventional surface discharge type plasma display panel. As shown in the drawing, a plasma display panel 10 includes a rear substrate 11, address electrodes 12 formed on the rear substrate 11, a dielectric layer 13 formed on the rear substrate 11 covering the address electrodes 12, partitions 14 formed on the dielectric layer 13 to maintain a discharge distance and prevent electrical and optical cross talk between cells, and a front substrate 17 facing the rear substrate 11 and on the bottom surface thereof pairs of maintaining electrodes 15 and 16 are formed in a direction perpendicular to the address electrodes 12. A black matrix 18 is formed between each pair of maintaining electrodes 15 and 16. A dielectric layer 19 is formed on the same surface of the front substrate 17 that the maintaining electrodes 15 and 16 and the black matrixes 18 are formed and the protective layer 21 is formed or the dielectric layer 19.
Red (R), green (G) and blue (B) fluorescent layers are formed on the side surfaces and the bottom surface of respective discharge spaces defined by the partitions 14. The discharge spaces are filled with a discharge gas which is a mixture of Ne and Xe.
The driving of the plasma display panel having the above structure can be classified into driving for an address discharge and driving for a maintaining discharge. The address discharge is generated between the address electrode 12 and one maintaining electrode 15, and when this occurs, wall charges are formed on the maintaining electrode 15. The maintaining discharge is generated between the maintaining electrode 15 where the wall charges are formed and another maintaining electrode 16. The maintaining discharge is a main discharge for displaying an actual image. That is, R, G and B fluorescent layers selected by a selective maintaining discharge are excited to form an image.
However, in the plasma display panel, brightness of lights emitted from the R, G and B fluorescent layers are not congruous while performing under the same conditions. That is, the light emitting brightness of the B fluorescent layer is relatively lower than those of the R and G fluorescent layers. Thus, a white balance property deteriorates when a color image is realized by using the plasma display panel.
To solve the above problem, a method has been proposed in which the coating area of the B fluorescent layer is formed larger than that of the R and G fluorescent layers or the B fluorescent layer is coated relatively thicker. However, since this method requires the interval between the partitions where the B fluorescent layer is coated to be made different, the method is not appropriate for mass production.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a plasma display panel in which the NA (numerical aperture) of the B fluorescent layer is increased so that the white balance property is improved during realization of a color image.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
Accordingly, to achieve the above and other objectives, there is provided a plasma display panel which comprises first and second substrates coupled to face each other and separated by a predetermined distance from each other, a plurality of address electrodes formed on a lower surface of the first substrate in a predetermined pattern, a first dielectric layer covering the address electrodes, a plurality of maintaining electrodes, each including first and second electrodes, formed on an upper surface of the second substrate at a predetermined angle with respect to the address electrodes of the first substrate, a plurality of black matrixes discontinuously formed between the maintaining electrodes in an alternating pattern therewith one by one, a second dielectric layer formed on the second substrate covering the maintaining electrodes and the black matrixes, a plurality of partitions formed between the first and second substrates defining discharge spaces, and red, green and blue fluorescent layers respectively coated in the discharge spaces defined by the partitions.
The foregoing and other objects of the present invention are further achieved by forming the first dielectric layer between the partitions.
The foregoing and other objects of the present invention are further achieved by forming the first and second electrodes of the maintaining electrodes a predetermined distance from each other and also forming each of the first and second electrodes of metal containing at least two lines.
The foregoing and other objects of the present invention are further achieved by forming the black matrixes such that a portion corresponding to a fluorescent layer having a relatively low brightness among the red, green and blue fluorescent layers is discontinued.
The foregoing and other objects of the present invention are further achieved by forming the black matrixes such than a portion corresponding to a flourescent layer having a relatively low brightness among the red, green and blue flourescent layers is discontinued, and further such that the fluorescent layer corresponding to the discontinued portion is the blue fluorescent layer.